The Official 2012 NBA Finals Thread: MIA vs. OKC

[O]

Referee's decide another one.

The writing is on the wall.

All hail the klng!

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Still confident in OKC. They can win in Miami.

 

[Folster]

Great game! I was elated thinking the Heat would choke away the game, but they managed to squeak out a victory. They sure have trouble closing. It seems they have to be up big just to eek out a win.

 

[D-Dogg]

1. Lebron got away with TWO fouls on that last play. Ridiculous.

2. There is no way on the planet Miami wins three straight at home, so there will be probably two more games at the thunderdome. If they fix that start slow crap, they will win in 6 or 7. If they keep starting slow, its going to be rough.

 

[TJ]

Wow, what a game. Heat did what it was supposed to do: go into OKC and get the home court advantage.

It'll be interesting to see how the Thunder respond Sunday in Miami.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[D-Dogg]

Home court won't last long. The 2-3-2 finals format is murder for the road team. Winning three straight is tough, especially against a team like the Thunder who just throw wave after wave of offense at you.

 

[TJ]

Great game! I was elated thinking the Heat would choke away the game, but they managed to squeak out a victory. They sure have trouble closing. It seems they have to be up big just to eek out a win.

I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times Heat players, mainly LeBron and Battier, physically ran into each other in half court sets. It's as if they have no clue where they're supposed to be positioned.

The team just looks so disorganized sometimes.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[D-Dogg]

I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times Heat players, mainly LeBron and Battier, physically ran into each other in half court sets. It's as if they have no clue where they're supposed to be positioned.

The collection of players just looks so disorganized sometimes.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Fixed that for ya.

 

[TJ]

Fixed that for ya.

LOL awesome...


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[carrrnuttt]

Dan Crawford strikes again: http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/14698/dan-crawford-the-heat-and-the-1-9-percent

 

[sunsfan88]

Kevin Durant should have fouled out mid quarter when he charged into Battier but they called blocking foul on Shane. Durante shouldn't even have been in the game the last 2 mins of it when OKC made their comeback.

It's ridiculous how a small market team like OKC gets so many favorable calls (they got a lot vs Spurs too) yet all the other small market teams get screwed.

OKC deserved to lose this game. They gave up 17 freaking points to Shane Battier for the 2nd straight game. This a guy who's been averaging 4 pts a game that is now lighting up the Thunder. Even LeBron had taken a dump on Durant on that last possession, OKC still deserves to lose if they let a scrb offensive player like Battier do work on them.

 

[WarnerHOF]

HEAT will close out the series at home barring David Stern match fixing.

When Miami isn't playing lazy defense like in game one, the Thunder really have don't any advantages. Miami's only struggles have been against teams with scoring bigs that take advantage of their lack of size in the frontcourt. Ibaka is nothing more than a shot blocker and Perkins is a fat slob who is only useful for defending offensively challenged big men in the low post.

 

[Joe Mama]

Kevin Durant should have fouled out mid quarter when he charged into Battier but they called blocking foul on Shane. Durante shouldn't even have been in the game the last 2 mins of it when OKC made their comeback.

It's ridiculous how a small market team like OKC gets so many favorable calls (they got a lot vs Spurs too) yet all the other small market teams get screwed.

OKC deserved to lose this game. They gave up 17 freaking points to Shane Battier for the 2nd straight game. This a guy who's been averaging 4 pts a game that is now lighting up the Thunder. Even LeBron had taken a dump on Durant on that last possession, OKC still deserves to lose if they let a scrb offensive player like Battier do work on them.

go watch that play again. Shane battier was never set. He was still drifting to his right in front of Kevin Durant. The referee absolutely made the right call there. The reason I really don't like that noncall at the end is because it plays right into that whole "let the players decide the game" BS argument. In fact one of the commentators said that when they watched it on replay. If the referees are missing or ignoring pretty obvious fouls they are deciding the game. I actually thought that overall the game was called pretty well. I just await the referees swallowing their whistles at the end of the game.

Joe

 

[sunsfan88]

You don't have to be set to draw a charge. You just can't be moving towards the offensive player which Battier wasn't doing.

And come on man, even though LBJ did foul Durant on the last play, it wasn't that big of a hack. No way that should be a foul in the 4th QTR of a finals game.

 

[95pro]

You don't have to be set to draw a charge. You just can't be moving towards the offensive player which Battier wasn't doing.

And come on man, even though LBJ did foul Durant on the last play, it wasn't that big of a hack. No way that should be a foul in the 4th QTR of a finals game.

what about all those non-hacks? seems like wade and lebron were rewarded given the calls they received throughout the game.

 

[Russ Smith]

1. Lebron got away with TWO fouls on that last play. Ridiculous.

2. There is no way on the planet Miami wins three straight at home, so there will be probably two more games at the thunderdome. If they fix that start slow crap, they will win in 6 or 7. If they keep starting slow, its going to be rough.

Yeah they're fixating on the no call against Durant but Westbrook had that rebound and LeBron came over and came across his forearm and wrist and knocked him off the ball. Westbrook was so furious he screamed F**K at the top of his lungs( you could hear it) and then threw his hands up in the air yelling at the ref looking right at him who didn't even warn him let alone give him a T. That's because the ref knew Westbrook was right.

Russ has to play smarter early in the games, he had a terrible first quarter and was the main factor in them falling so far behind. From then on he was excellent, 27 points 7 assists 8 boards is not the worst PG play in the history of the nBA finals. But Stephen A and Bayless have a shtick they have to sell and that's it, Westbrook rips by Smith, LeBron by Bayless.

Battier has been huge and Bosh on the boards was outstanding.

And for the love of Pete will someone just once call carrying on Wade? It's not that hard to break someone's ankles on a crossover if you can put your hand under the ball and completely turn it over in the air to change directions and then dribble again.

 

[Russ Smith]

Kevin Durant should have fouled out mid quarter when he charged into Battier but they called blocking foul on Shane. Durante shouldn't even have been in the game the last 2 mins of it when OKC made their comeback.

It's ridiculous how a small market team like OKC gets so many favorable calls (they got a lot vs Spurs too) yet all the other small market teams get screwed.

OKC deserved to lose this game. They gave up 17 freaking points to Shane Battier for the 2nd straight game. This a guy who's been averaging 4 pts a game that is now lighting up the Thunder. Even LeBron had taken a dump on Durant on that last possession, OKC still deserves to lose if they let a scrb offensive player like Battier do work on them.

Watch the slo mo replay they showed it is clear as day that Battier was still sliding over when Durant started to jump and was moving his upper torso forward into the contact.

I called it a block live and the replay confirmed it, I was actually surprised the announcer was so ambiguous on what he thought the call was even his sidekick said the replay clearly said block.

 

[95pro]

Yeah they're fixating on the no call against Durant but Westbrook had that rebound and LeBron came over and came across his forearm and wrist and knocked him off the ball. Westbrook was so furious he screamed F**K at the top of his lungs( you could hear it) and then threw his hands up in the air yelling at the ref looking right at him who didn't even warn him let alone give him a T. That's because the ref knew Westbrook was right.

Russ has to play smarter early in the games, he had a terrible first quarter and was the main factor in them falling so far behind. From then on he was excellent, 27 points 7 assists 8 boards is not the worst PG play in the history of the nBA finals. But Stephen A and Bayless have a shtick they have to sell and that's it, Westbrook rips by Smith, LeBron by Bayless.

Battier has been huge and Bosh on the boards was outstanding.

And for the love of Pete will someone just once call carrying on Wade? It's not that hard to break someone's ankles on a crossover if you can put your hand under the ball and completely turn it over in the air to change directions and then dribble again.

whew, it's so frustrating...i wish they'd call it everytime. even driving to the lane, the ball goes all the way across his body and then some.

was nice to see him fumbling and falling all over the court. oh! another thing, why do they let wade double dribble??? he stops his dribble, fumbles the ball and starts dribbling again. a couple of times i was like wtf!!!

 

[Russ Smith]

You don't have to be set to draw a charge. You just can't be moving towards the offensive player which Battier wasn't doing.

And come on man, even though LBJ did foul Durant on the last play, it wasn't that big of a hack. No way that should be a foul in the 4th QTR of a finals game.

He WAS moving forward, his feet were sliding sideways but his upperbody was moving forward, it was really obvious on the replay.

Don't buy the last part, a foul is a foul, and when there's 12 seconds left in a 2 point game you can't foul the shooter like that.

The weird thing to me is LeBron is lucky because if they call the foul and OKC goes on to win the whole sports world is now asking what the hell was LeBron doing. Watch the replay, he wasn't even ready for the inbounds, he was looking off to the side presumably looking for a screen or something and was completely surprised when they threw the ball to Durant.

 

[Russ Smith]

whew, it's so frustrating...i wish they'd call it everytime. even driving to the lane, the ball goes all the way across his body and then some.

was nice to see him fumbling and falling all over the court. oh! another thing, why do they let wade double dribble??? he stops his dribble, fumbles the ball and starts dribbling again. a couple of times i was like wtf!!!

The one that infuriates me is the offensive guy curling from under the basket so he's cutting towards halfcourt when he takes the pass and then takes 4-5 steps to catch turn and face. Wade did it 4-5 times, Kobe does it all the time, Austin Rivers in college there's youtube of him doing it and taking 5-6 steps with no call.

part of what makes that cut tough is that you have stop your momentum after you catch the ball, if you let the player travel to do that, it's a huge advantage.

 

[Joe Mama]

You don't have to be set to draw a charge. You just can't be moving towards the offensive player which Battier wasn't doing.

And come on man, even though LBJ did foul Durant on the last play, it wasn't that big of a hack. No way that should be a foul in the 4th QTR of a finals game.

What?. You can't be sliding in front of somebody going to the basket to pick up a charge unless you are the on ball defender. You don't know what you're talking about. LeBron James gave him a forearm shove. He hit KD twice and then got the ball away from Westbrook on the rebound but ripping his arms down.

Joe

 

[slinslin]

I think slow-motion made it look much more than it really was. Watching it in realtime I did not think it was a foul.
Durant was playing for the foul because he went up straight into James forearm. I thought it was an ok no-call.

 

[sunsfan88]

All the LeBron haters think it was a foul. Simple as that.

 

[carey]

All the LeBron haters think it was a foul. Simple as that.

Aka people with eyes and a brain.

 

[95pro]

Wade travels there as he received the ball above the 3pt line. Please...